How ChurchStaq Can Help with Pastor Burnout

When we look at an issue like pastoral burnout, an oft-cited statistic claims 1,500 people leave pastoral ministry every month. A few years ago, research conducted by Lifeway debunked that alarming myth, but their deep dive into the inner lives of pastors still didn’t paint a pretty picture.

According to Lifeway Research, 84% of pastors say they’re on call 24 hours a day. 53% find the role of a pastor “frequently overwhelming.” 48% often feel the demands of pastoral leadership are “more than they can handle.” And one in five pastors says their church has “unrealistic expectations” of them. Additionally, a report by the Schaeffer Institute found that a majority of pastors work between 50 and 70 hours a week.

Burnout is a culture-wide issue, and its debilitating effects have seeped into nearly every aspect of American life. A widely-shared Buzzfeed News article from 2019 referred to Millenials as the “Burnout Generation.” In a 2017 article from the Harvard Business Review, researchers estimated that the impact of burnout on employees’ psychological and physical wellbeing resulted in $125 billion to $190 billion in healthcare costs.

And the consequences are even more far-reaching than that. An overburdened and stressed-out workforce will eventually result in high staff turnover and low productivity rates. Organizations with high-pressure workplace environments can find themselves trapped in neverending cycles of hiring and onboarding, making it difficult for the organization to accomplish its mission.

As the lines between work and home become increasingly blurred, the promise of a healthy work-life balance becomes more and more far-fetched. And that’s especially true for those of us involved in pastoral ministry. There’s always been an expectation for pastors to deliver fortifying sermons each week and be available to meet the needs of their congregation.

But in today’s world, pastors are expected to operate as the de-facto CEO of their church, steer their congregation through an increasingly polarized cultural landscape, be “on-call” for any staff or personnel issues that may arise, and have the “correct” opinion on every hot-button issue dominating the airwaves at any given moment.

According to a study by Duke University, 100% of polled pastors know a friend or colleague who left ministry due to pastoral burnout, moral failure, or church conflict.

It’s enough to make any pastor feel as if being spiritually, emotionally, and physically exhausted is just “part of the job.” But does it have to be?

Is There a Better Way Forward?

No piece of technology can “solve” or prevent pastor burnout on its own. It’s not a magic bullet or “one-size-fits-all” solution. The issues and expectations that lead to burnout are complex and multi-faceted.

At the same time, it’s possible that technology can reduce some of the stressors and roadblocks that contribute to burnout in the first place.

Ministry is already hard and complicated, and your technology should be part of the solution, not the problem. We developed ChurchStaq because we saw a better way of doing ministry – eliminating redundancies in operations, saving time by automating processes, and tearing down data silos. Imagine a church-tech solution that unifies and streamlines all of your pre-existing ministry operations – worship planning, digital giving, website management, mobile app design, donor development, attendance tracking, small group involvement, and events.

Thankfully, that solution doesn’t have to exist in your imagination.

It’s called ChurchStaq, and it’s here now.

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Take the Stress Out of Ministry

According to our research, large churches, on average, use 16 different software tools to conduct ministry operations.

16.

Picture 16 different software tools lined up on a table. How well do these tools “talk” to one another? How much specialization and training is needed to master just one? How much helpful data is lost in the disconnect between tools that could be used to analyze attendance and giving trends? How many first-time visitors and long-time members get lost jumping through software hoop to software hoop?

ChurchStaq is our remedy for the anxiety you’re experiencing right now just thinking about all of the lost ministry opportunities hiding in plain sight.

Here are just some of the ways ChurchStaq can help you and your team by making ministry easier.

ONLINE GIVING

ChurchStaq’s digital giving solution makes it easier for your donors to give anytime, anywhere. It’s simple to use, quick, safe, and – best of all – it does all of this without sacrificing your need to track, manage, and grow donations.

Online giving means your church is no longer bound by the “passing of the offering plate” in an increasingly cashless world. Whether you decide to conduct your giving via online, mobile app, kiosk, or texting, it’s all safe and secure with multi-campus support. And Spanish Web Giving means giving a breeze for Spanish-speaking members of your congregation.

Congregation members can also set up recurring giving and exercise their generosity whenever they feel led with your church’s mobile app. And our Donor Development dashboard will help you further cultivate a spirit of generosity in your church, with easy-to-generate reports, alerts, and reminders.

CHURCH MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

ChurchStaq’s church management software (ChMS) will help your team connect with guests and encourage ongoing engagement with a unified ministry platform. Our ChMS empowers you to know your people and connect with them on a personal level while simultaneously simplifying processes to get them more plugged into the life of your church.

Pastoral care is an essential part of any pastor’s job, and our People feature will give you a quick snapshot of any person’s involvement with the church. You also won’t need to waste time tracking down anyone’s contact information. Additionally, the Needs feature easily lets people share congregational needs with the rest of the church, so your people can support one another in times of distress and hardship. Create a welcoming and safe environment with our Check-In feature that lets parents digitally check their children into Sunday school or daycare.

And with customizable reporting and database searches, you’ll always have your finger on the pulse of your church’s financial and spiritual health.

MOBILE APPS

You probably don’t leave home without your cell phone, and your congregants don’t either. ChurchStaq’s suite of mobile apps offers limitless engagement opportunities for your church leaders and congregation.

The My Church App lets you create a customizable mobile app experience, with branding options to match the look and feel of your church. Upload sermons as podcast episodes, share live streams of services, and keep your guests in the know with church-wide announcements on a dynamic home screen.

Our mobile app integrates with the ChMS and offers mobile giving, check-in options, volunteer scheduling, and custom group functionality, which means your church members can connect with the heart of your ministry – right in the palm of their hands.

In addition to the My Church App, ChurchStaq also comes with our LEAD app, built specifically for church leaders. The LEAD app is the best way to keep all of your leaders informed. From worship planning and service overviews to follow-up processes and people profiles, your leaders will have everything they need to align ministry goals and keep each other updated on church operations in real-time.

INTEGRATIONS

No one can do it alone. That’s why we partner with dozens of software solutions you already use and love. This enables you to seamlessly transfer information across services and collaborate with other platforms easily. The result? Greater time savings and fewer administrative headaches.

We have more than 40 software integration partners and over 80 total software integrations. Some of our more popular integrations include QuickBooks Online (for accounting), Protect My Ministry (for background checks), and MailChimp (for sending emails). If your church already uses one of these applications, you don’t need to worry about “starting from scratch.” ChurchStaq will integrate with these (and dozens of other) solutions, creating a flexible church-tech ecosystem that communicates seamlessly across platforms.

Imagine a Better Way of Doing Ministry

As a pastor, your most valuable asset is your time. Spending quality time in the Word and with your family is nourishment to your soul. But how much of that time is sacrificed because of inefficient systems, clunky technology, and overburdened staff?

You didn’t get into ministry to stumble through administrative backlogs, sit through endless meetings, or untangle communication misfires and antiquated workflows. You got into ministry to preach the Gospel and love people.

ChurchStaq is our way of helping you rediscover why you decided to serve the Lord in the first place. Schedule a demo today and talk with one of our engagement specialists to see how we can help your church achieve its mission while restoring the joy in your ministry.